Oregon High School Baseball

HILLSBORO – After winning the opening game of the Glencoe Spring Break Tournament 3-0 over David Douglas, Century coach Kyle Bunting smiled.

“That’s two more (wins) than I thought we’d have,” he said after his team improved to 2-1 on the season.

Oh, what he must be thinking now.

Century extended its winning streak to three games to advance to the championship game, then used a stellar pitching performance from senior Nick Lo Bue to clinch the tournament title with a 2-1 victory over Madison at Hillsboro Stadium on Wednesday evening.

Century senior pitcher Nick Lo Bue (Andrew Nemec | The Oregonian)

“During the summer, we had a very long, tough (stretch),” Bunting said. “At the end of the year, the kids started to get used to the varsity speed, started getting used to the pressure of the game. Apparently, it’s carried over.”

Madison got on the board in the bottom of the first behind an RBI groundout from Robby Heiberg.

It was the last time the Senators plated a run, as Lo Bue flipped the switch, locating his pitches with precision and relying on his defense to make plays behind him.

“It was just getting focused the day before – picturing what you want to do, how you want to pitch, what’s your gameplan – just getting ready for when you’ve got to pitch in a pressure situation," he said.

As has been the case in each of its games this season, Century (4-1) was limited offensively, collecting just four hits, but made them count.

The Jaguars opened the second inning with a Josh Sundquist single and a walk by Marcos Hernandez, then plated a run on a one-out double by senior Sam Bates. The next batter, senior Jaylen Martes, slapped an RBI groundout that made it 2-1.

It hardly seemed like a game-deciding play at the time, but behind Lo Bue’s dominant pitching effort the rest of the way, it proved to be the game winner.

“Offense will always be a concern,” Bunting said. “We don’t have big kids at Century. We’re a line drive team. … We’ll just play it by ear and see where it goes. If we have to find ways to manufacture runs we’ll do that.”

While the tournament championship won’t be a season-defining moment for the Jaguars, it provided evidence that they will be able to battle in the Pacific Conference.

“Any time we can win, and win a tournament that we’re in every year, that’s great. It’s a nice trophy for the school,” Bunting said. “The fact that we’ve won four in a row and we’re winning tight games and we’re playing pretty good baseball – not great yet – but pretty good baseball, that’s what we like to see.”

Century won’t have much time to celebrate the victory, as it will travel to The Dalles for a baseball game Thursday.